Just A Girl Hoping To Own A Farm One Day

Sad day

2012-08-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

Well my laptop is broken at the moment so I'm attempting this post from my phone. (hopefully this works and doesn't look like a hot mess). I have lots to share but for now I thought I would show you my progress on my blanket I'm crocheting. I'm making a gagillon granny squares in the middle of summer. It's so hot just thinking about a blanket. I'm crazy I know. Hopefully I'm done by Christmas!

Chico or Bust (Part 3)

2012-08-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'd like to start off by saying......

I don't like beer.

I know you probably think I'm crazy but I just don't.

I'm working on it though because I'd like to be able to sit down and drink a beer like everyone else.

I do however really like tours and museums and I was really excited for this one.

One big attraction in Chico is the Sierra Nevada Brewery.

The brewery is pretty awesome.

They organically grow hops on the property along with an organic vegetable garden. Plus the vegetables from the garden are used in the restaurant.

Our tour guide was informative and out going.

But I can't tell you anything informative now.

Hops!

I know thats hops at least....

Here is my dad smelling the hops. What they have you do is take the hops in your hands and rub them together. This leaves the aromas on your hands and you can smell them. The hops smelled different depending on where they were grown and give the beer a different flavor (Oh look you just learned something!).By doing this oils are released onto your hands turning them a yellow color.

Well, this stuff is not water soluble meaning it will not come off of your hands when you wash them. The only thing to get it off is to use hand sanitizer.

Of course the hand sanitizer outside the nicely chilled hops room was empty.....

So we had to leave it on our hands for a while.

My stupidly sensitive hands of course broke out.

Yep, they hurt and turned red.....

Story of my life

Here is where they brew the beer.

Don't mind the window reflection.

It was a billion degrees in that room.

Literally.

Because we went during the week they were bottling!

It was pretty awesome to watch.

I could stand there all day.

After the tour they take you into the tasting room and gave us 7 beers to try!

Oh did I mention this tour was FREE???

Pretty awesome right?

Then they gave us pens, posters, key chain bottle openers.

This one in their Pale Ale. Each beer came is a specific type on glass.

I wanted to steal some... but I held back the urge.

After the tour I of course went to the gift shop.

It's ridiculously cheap.

I got a shirt, a glass, and a mustard they make with their Porter.

It's addicting and the glasses are so cheap only $3! And you can't break them.

We then went to restaurant and had big pretzels and a garlic beer cheese sauce.

I don't have a picture of that because I scarfed it down.

The other thing my dad really wanted to go to was the National YoYo museum.

Well, it ended up being in the back of a store in downtown Chico.

Needless to say he was disappointed.

Basically it was just rows and rows of yoyos.

(Sorry for this is an oddly cropped photo because I had to crop of the reflection

of my boobs in the glass.)

They had one the size of me.......

It was pretty cool.

All in all I think this was a successful trip.

I got to learn even more about the city I call home for 9 months a year.

Chico or Bust! (Part 2)

2012-08-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

The next place we went was Honey Run.

Honey Run road contains one of the few last covered bridges in California.

It is also the only three tiered wooden covered bridge in the United States.

It's pretty special.

I've wanted to go see it since I moved to Chico and thought it might be a great place

to visit with my parents.

Since I had never been there I googled directions.

We ended up taking the long way of course.

Along the single car windy road instead of on the fairly flat two lane road.

The windy road was an adventure though and it was actually kinda cool because

the road was covered in graffiti.

The outside
You can no longer drive on it but I'm glad. I enjoyed taking my time walking the length of the bridge. I got to stop and look at all of the nooks and crannies.

It is crazy to think that something built almost 120 years ago out of wood is still standing.

I can only imagine how many people have crossed this bridge.

The inside....

The inside was so intricate.

View from the inside. (look at my fancy composition)

Gorgeous creek running below.

Look out below!

View from the other side. You can see where the new bridge was built in order
to preserve the wooden one.

Half way through!

At the very end, looking back.

The only scary thing is you can only have 120 people on the bridge....

View from the ground with my feet in the water.

Man did it feel good.

The water was so nice.

The underneath view.

Water rushing over some stacked rocks.

This place was so pretty and a great place to take the family and picnic.
I really enjoyed the history of it.

Curried Chickpeas

2012-08-15T14:12:00.001-07:00

I made these curried chickpeas from a jar of spices I got in Canada. The recipe is on the jar and you can buy it here http://www.acecurriestogo .com/index.php . It was super fast and all I need was the spice mix, crushed tomatoes, 1 can of chickpeas, garlic, and oil.

Simmering away...

The finished product garnished with cilantro.

So delicious!

Chico or Bust! (Part 1)

2012-08-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost over so it's back to Chico! Since I don't have a car my parents drove me back up and decided to have a little vacation touring around Chico.

Chico is known for a few things. The great outdoors activities. The Sierra Nevada Brewery. And of course the..well we will just call it the "night life".

We came. We saw. We concurred Chico.

The beautifully boring 8 hour drive up.

That is literally all you see on the 5.

Plus the car was packed tight with all my "crap".

I had about 12 inches of seat.

We made it to Chico and this was our forecast for the week....

Yeah we don't get this hot on the coast..... ever,

In touristing it up we visited Upper and Lower Park.

First we went to Upper Bidwell Park.

Here is a little background info (if it's wrong blame google). Bidwell Park was given to Chico by its founders General John and Annie Bidwell. It is a 3,618 acre municipal park and I love every bit of it. Upper Park is more of the wild lands with water holes, hiking trails, biking, and camping. You take a rocky dirt road back into no-mans land.

I wanted to show them Bear hole where I normally go to relax and swim.

Here is a very smokey Upper Park. There are tons of fires going on in northern California right now and boy could you smell it!

Bear hole with crystal clear water.

I think it speaks for itself, don't you?

It's just absolutely gorgeous. Those rock however are very deceiving. They are volcanic (I think). Well they get so hot they feel like a volcano. So hot you have to sit on a folded up towel or you will literally burn yourself. And they are slippery! I slipped trying to get out of the water once and ate it.

This however is typical.

If I can hurt myself in some way I will.

I get it from my mom.

Blame her.

I do!

Awwwww!!!!

or is it

Ahhhhhhhh?

(or that someone screaming?)

I don't know just pretend you hear angles singing at all its glory.

We then went to Lower Park which is more the picnicking, leisure bike riding, playing catch in the park kinda place. Completely different from upper park and beautiful in its own right.

Here they dam up the river and create a pool in the summer time for everyone to go swimming in.

The water is a great way to cool off in the hot summer heat.

I didn't take too many pictures there because I was enjoying putting my feet in the water and just relaxing (i.e. cooling off) so I thought I would add a couple pictures I took from last winter.

I love that you can see the icy bitter coldness in these pictures. (It's helping me cool off a little)

Even with all the leaves gone it's still stunning.

If you visit Chico you must visit Bidwell Park.

It is one of Chico's gems

Happy Hour!

2012-08-15T10:19:00.003-07:00

Happy hour margarita. Nothing beats a $6 fish bowl.

Plus chips and guac!

Mmmm so delicious!

And.... Done!

Now don't think you can drink a fish bowl and drive cause me and S.T. know that ain't happen'n.

Trust us.

Things I've learned

2012-08-14T16:40:00.003-07:00

1. My water bottle leaks. I found this out when I sat on the couch and my booty got all wet. I looked like I peed my pants but it was refreshing in this hot weather.

2. DO NOT. I repeat do NOT spray homemade natural pesticides on you plants. They burn like this....

Stay strong little! I'm sorry!

3. I am an artistic chalk prodigy.....Not!

4. Tape does not come off dishes in the dishwasher. They must be hand scrubbed unfortunately.

5. Fan are a by far one of the best inventions. Ever! Especially in 108〫weather.

6. Speaking of heat.... leather couches suck in the heat.... I keep sticking.

7. Brought way too much stuff home over the summer. It barely fit in the car on the way back.

8. I love Chico.

Well that's all so far. I might make things I've learned recurring. We shall see. I'll leave you with this picture of Ventura. I'm missing it already.

Goodbye Ventura. It's been real.

2012-08-09T14:09:00.003-07:00

Schools around the corner and I'm headed back to Chico. I always miss Ventura when I'm away. The growing beach town that is intertwined in agriculture. It is just gorgeous.

Of course I'm going to miss my friends and family. The beautiful, constant, rarely below 60, rarely above 75 degree weather. All my favorite places to eat and shop. My garden.

But thing I miss the most are honestly my poopy Cheyanne, my Smokie bear, and Leonard. I don't have any pets in Chico and it gets lonely sometimes when I'm home alone.

As you'll be able to tell I love taking pictures of my pets. I have a ridiculous amount.

Here's Cheyanne. She has many names but most involve poopy.

This is her scientist look.

Her action shot!

I took a photography class and had to show movement so I made her run up and down the backyard until I got the picture I wanted. I'm mean I know.

Here she is looking like a princess. So loves to pose. I swear I want her life. All she does is sleep in the sun all day. Play with her toys and eat treats.

Funny enough she loves to garden. We go in the backyard together and she sticks her head in my raised bed looking for things to steal. She loves cucumbers and always steals them. Everyday she goes and sniffs and licks the tomatoes. I think she's just as excited as I am for them to ripen.

Here's Leonard. He's named after the character on the Big Bang Story. This is probably the only picture I have of him because he is the biggest brat. Currently he has all the fish tank ornaments I put in there in a pile in the corner of the tank. It doesn't matter how many times I put it all back because in the morning it's all in a pile again. For Christmas one year I bought him some new plants. He ripped them out and killed them within a week. I try and talk to him and interact with him and he flares at me and hides. He loves Smokie though. Smokie stares at him and tries to attack him and Leonard flares his fins and thrashes around the tank. It's quite comical when Smokie tries to bite him because he repeatedly smashes his face on the glass.

Here's my Smokie baby.

Isn't he adorable?

He has the biggest attitude. When I pet him he cringes as if I going to beat him. He gives death stares from across the room when you talk to him. He enjoys clawing everything in my room along with knocking all my stuff off of my shelves. He love yelling at me at 5am to let him out and occasionally biting me so I get up. I love to fake him out though. I get up and say "you want to go out?" in an excited voice. When he runs for the back door I close my bedroom door. Mean I know, but he knows he's not allowed out until it's light out.

When he isn't a total butt he can really be a spaz. He will run from the top of our stairs into our laundry room where he slides into the dryer because he was going too fast. Cheyanne and him love to play the "I'm going to get you game". Cheyanne chases him and he attempts to out smart and out run her while he tries to get to the fence. He generally wins.

Here's George aka Georgie. Sadly he is no longer with us but I miss him. He adopted us. Some horrid neighbors I had didn't take care of him and left him when they moved. After some coaxing we finally got him to let us pet him and put him in the garage during winter nights. Then one day he basically moved in and wasn't going anywhere. He was a grumpy old man but a big lover.
He loved my garden too.
Except he liked to lay in it.......

Day at the Beach!

2012-08-08T19:36:00.000-07:00

Let me just start by saying, I'm pooped.
And sunburnt.
To a crisp.
Seriously my face is the color of a tomato.
I'm now sitting on the couch in a parka because I'm freezing.

And a seagull ate my sandwich......
It was packed away in a bag in my purse.
I took all precautions to ensure my sandwich would not be eaten while I was in the water.
Obviously the seagull out smarted me.
I'm not bitter obviously....

With that said I had a great day. I spent the day at Carpinertia State beach with my mom, my best friend Jazzyknickers (that's what I've called for, well, for as long as I can remember. Can anyone name the book it's from?) and her little brother. Carp is just a short drive from my house and one of my favorite beaches. Boy was it packed today too! I have been wanting to go to the beach and swim for a long time. It has just been too gosh darn cold! But today was beautiful.

Here's me and Jazzy after our hour long romp in the ocean. It took me 45 min to convince her to put her head under when the waves come. She's a chicken.

Here is the little man (refusing to let me take his picture) looking for sand dollars and sand crabs. No sand dollars but hundreds of sand crabs!

He broke that bucket 10 minutes later by the way.

Along with the shovel.......

My feetsies after testing the water temperature. Little man says it was "50/50" and

I agree the water wasn't half bad once you got in.

The gorgeous beach. I love this beach because there isn't much seaweed or rocks. We played in the water for almost an hour. See that thing floating out there? That's a platform you can swim to! The only downside is bird poop. Yep that's right there's birds at the beach and they poop. On everything.....But nevertheless it's fun to swim out to. You get a feeling like you're doing something wrong because you get out past the surf and can no longer touch. I like that feeling of breaking the rules.

By the end of the day we were all exhausted with sand in places we shall not name.

The Simple Joys of the Day.... and Maybe a Couple Woes

2012-08-07T18:26:00.005-07:00

I haven't really been doing much lately. Just packing and getting ready to go back to Chico so I thought I would share some things that made me smile today and a few of the hard woes of my life (sarcasm). (And I know how ridiculously cheesy that picture is trust me!)

1. My first Sungold tomato is turning well, golden! Finally! Ugh! I guess my talking to them finally paid off. I'm sure people hear me and think I'm crazy.

2. A gorgeous drive along the 101 to Santa Barbara. I can't imagine growing up in a prettier place. Living in Chico I realized how much I take the ocean for granted. When I'm away I miss the briny smell, the salty taste of the ocean air, the sticky feeling your hair gets, the sand stuck to your feet and forever in your shoes once you put them on.

3.This delicious sandwich I made. Nothing beats a fresh avocado. I used to hate avocados but I've really come around to them and lately I can't get enough.

4. My grandma gave me this beautiful UGG purse today. It's a $335 purse. My grandma got it for $40. She's got the hook up. The coolest thing is it has pockets on each side! And they are really deep so things won't fall out. How cool it that? Psh really cool I know.
(PS I have magical powers and can make things float)

5. This is my dog Cheyanne being ridiculous as always. She never ceases to make me laugh. Today I literally caught her hiding behind a car from my mom like a child. My mom was calling her and she wasn't moving.
Just standing there.
Hiding.
When she saw I found her she gave me a look like shhhh don't tell! I called my mom telling her where she was because she was freaking out. When my mom came closer from the back of the car to the front where she was hiding she watched her feet getting closer from under the car. When my mom got to her she ran away grinning with her mouth open. She was definitely laughing.

6. I had a funny conversation with my friend S.T. I love when my friends are as interested in baking and gardening as me. It makes me not feel like such an old lady!

Woes of my life today
1. Not being able to have the Barefoot Contessa's Pear, Apple and Cranberry Crisp . This looks to die for. And I want it. Enough said.
2. Avocado on my shirt....... total bummer
3. Today was last time I will see my grandma for a few months

What made you smile today or say gosh darn you life! Why are you so cruel??

Love,

me!

P.S. I lost a pound! I'm on my way to being a sexy lady at graduation!

An Attempt at Sewing

2012-08-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

On this lazy Saturday I decided to make some potpourri pouches. I've been wanting to make these for a while. I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I was thinking I would put them in my underwear drawer but I'm not totally sure if I want my underwear smelling like potpourri. I got a little help and inspiration from Craftstylish. They turned out..... well lets just be happy with the fact that they turned out. I'm still new to the sewing thing and I sometimes like to take shortcuts where you can't. My friend P inspired me to begin sewing. She makes it look effortless and I thought psh I can do that! That is so easy. I can whip out a shirt a shirt in a couple hours just like her! How hard can it be?

Ha! (yes that is me laughing at how ridiculous I sound.)

Let me tell you, I thought I would start out easy by making an apron.

Ha! I didn't even know how to read the pattern let alone where to start.

P so kindly helped me through that one and let me make my mistakes so I would learn. In the end it turned out fairly well. So keeping my limited sewing abilities and stubbornness to reading directions in mind this is what I created!

Here is what I used:

Here's my beautiful Singer sewing machine my parents bought me for Christmas. I love it and it's so easy to use! It even comes with a video on how to use it. I've watched it like 4 times..... Everything looks so easy until I attempt it. I don't know what that's about.

Pins! Over 100 things to stab myself with!

My fabric! It's just some scraps I had along with a shirt I cut that had holes in it. I absolutely loved this shirt. It's the brown floral fabric. When I cut it up there were way more holes than I thought there were. Whoops! Hopefully no one noticed when I wore it.

What I did!

So I sewed together two fabrics with french seam. I know! Look at me getting all fancy with my technical sewing terms. Shh I wasn't the one to tell you that's the only seam name I know.

Then I cut out a heart out of some scrap paper I had and pinned it to both the top fabric and the back fabirc. I also had to lay another piece of fabric behind the brown fabric because it was too thin.

I then attempted to sew around, not on, the paper heart making sure to leave a hole to put the filling in. I was somewhat successful. It's a little lopsided but hey, at least it's heart shape!

Here I tried to get all artistic with my picture.......I decided to put a border on it to give it a "finished" look with biased tape (technical term!!). Although this picture looks like I'm doing an awesome job don't be fooled. Right after I took this picture I ran right off my border and had to take it all out and do it again. And again. At first I didn't want to take the time to pin it down but of course it took me 10 times longer fixing my mistakes than if I were to just pin it down the first time. One day I will learn.

.....Maybe.

The filling!

Sage

Rosemary

Lavender

All things I grow in my backyard!

I combined it with rice just like CraftStylish said. I'm not sure if the rice is a filler or to prevent mold or both but I liked the idea of it so I did it. I just used enough rice to fill my heart. I didn't really measure.

What can I say, I'm just not the measuring type.

Putting the filling in was comical. Of course the hole I left was way too small and I tried to pour it in. That definitely didn't work so then I made a funnel out of paper and that helped but kept getting clogged by the herbs.Then I got smart.....

I stuffed the herbs in first then funneled in the rice. Ah! Now we're think'n!

Then I sewed it up! And any mistakes you see are not mistakes. We will just call those artistic rights. I won't show you the back cause it's not pretty but who looks at the back anyways?....

I made a couple more but didn't put as much effort into them. I kinda like the frayed edges though. Hope this inspires you to try your hand at sewing!

Now I have a big mess to clean up because I can't do anything without making a mess.

But I like the idea that if you didn't make a mess you didn't have fun!

My trip to Napa and Auburn!

2012-08-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

There's a summer storm brewing outside! With wind, thunder, lighting, the whole sha-bang! I love them because I don't have to water my garden but it also means more time inside. I only get so many summer days and sadly this will probably be my last lazy summer. Since I couldn't go outside I decided I would sit down with a glass of wine and reminisce about a wonderful trip I took earlier this summer to visit some friends where there was lots of warm weather.

It started with a very

very

early morning drive down the coast to good old LAX!

There was surprisingly little traffic for once. The early morning was well worth the view of the sun rise along the Malibu coast though and I even made my flight with some time to spare!

I flew Southwest which turned out to be a nice flight. Does anyone watch TLC's "On the Fly"? Well if you haven't the whole show is about Southwest airlines. Sometimes the people are nice and courteous; other times..... well that's another story. Needless to say I was little worried but my flight was great! There was no assigned seating so you got to sit where ever you wanted and no one sat next me so I wasn't crammed into not only a tiny seat but basically on top of someone.

This is what I got along with a Ginger Ale on the plane. I always get Ginger Ale.

The size of the picture is very deceiving.

This won't even feed a bird.

This is what I saw!

The beautiful California Agriculture

California Coast!

I think Los Angeles is beautiful in its own right.

I landed in Napa and wine tasted my ass off!
For free!
It pays to have connections......No big

Hello gorgeous Napa Valley!

I tasted at Sterling winery, Castello di Amorosa, and Duckhorn.

Wine, Wine, and more Wine!

Did I say wine? The picture above is at Castello Di Amarosa. After a really fun and exclusive tour (my connections at work) of the castle we had a barrel tasting. My first ever barrel tasting! It was with red wine and I'm not the biggest red wine drinker. I know I'm working on it but, I actually really enjoyed it. One thing I learned however was that I am in capable of swirling my wine glass. The wine looks like the high seas when I attempt it. It was quite comical and I stopped immediately because people began to stare. The picture below was at Duckhorn, a beautiful house with a large wrap around porch you sit out and taste at while you look out at their gorgeous gardens. I could have spent all day there even though it was all reds.

This is what happens after you have had multiple glasses of wine:

You act like a fool in highly public place by pretending to be popping out from behind grape vines and stone columns. That's my tour guide by the way. We'll just call her S.T. for all of time. Me and S.T. toured around St. Helena, Calistoga, and the Napa Valley. It was beautiful.

And hot

And you feel even hotter when you're drinking wine.

Oh hello extremely zoomed in/blurry photo of Chef Michael Chiarello's house! I'm not stalking you I promise!

One night we went to the Calistoga Inn for dinner and drinks. I'm a poor college student so if somethings going to get cut in order to save money it's of course going to be dinner..... Margaritas and Lemon Drops are way more important than real food. Duh! And at least my dinner was fancy. I mean truffle fries is some high end living stuff there.

Here we are being tourists

And again.........

And...I think you get the picture

This one pretty much sums up our friendship

On our last day in Napa we ate at this one place. Yeah you know that one place. No? Yeah, me neither. I don't remember what it was called but let me tell you it was amazing!

Isn't your mouth watering just looking at these! These rolls were amazing! They were these dense sourdough roll, coated and sitting in a pool of olive oil and herbs and dusted with Parmesan cheese. Plus its was like 4 bucks for 6 of these things. Such a steal! And they were so good the next day!
They weren't soggy at all.

Then there was this beauty! Caesar salad, fresh cut mozzarella, fresh tomatoes along with an herb drizzle on top of a delicious flat bread! You fold it up and eat it like a sandwich. I could eat this all day every day. And I'd probably weigh 5 million pounds but hey it would at least be from this deliciousness. I can't wait to go back!

After Napa me and S.T. went to visit our friend, let's call her P, in Auburn. Her family owns the cutest store The Tin Thimble in the coolest building which was an old fruit packing plant. I don't even know how to describe their business. They have everything you would ever need to sew including patterns and adorable fabric! I had to restrain myself from not purchasing a ton of fabric. My suit case already weighed over 45lbs for only 10 days which I could barely lift (I don't know what I packed ok!). Here's a pic of their really adorable and inventive way of displaying buttons!

They also sell hand dyed wool and other handmade goodies. Well, the reason we came to visit our friend P was because she teaches sewing classes there (there are tons of different classes too) and they were having a fashion show! P is an amazing sewer and makes it look effortless.

Here she goes! It was actually very difficult to snap a shot of her on the adorable runway. The whole fashion show was circus themed! These are the only 2 recognizable pics I got. She made both the dress and the top! You can read her post on the fashion show here!

The fashion show was so adorable! They had little girls show off the clothes they made in their classes. And for lunch her sister made this delicious tomato and cheese tart. I literally ate like half of a tart (which weren't small let me add) and never got a picture of it because every time I thought about it I had already finished. So I would go get another slice and get distracted by how delicious it looked, chow down, and realize I never took a picture. This deliciously vicious cycle continued until I couldn't eat any more and there were no tarts left.

From there I spent a few days in Chico for the 4th of July. Theres nothing better than BBQ, drinks, and fireworks with some good friends.

Have you gone on any vacations this summer?

My Backyard

2012-08-02T22:45:00.000-07:00

This blog originally began as a place to share my recipes but, as a busy college student I wasn't always able to create, test, and perfect recipes. A lot of what I eat has become whatever is fast, easy, cheap (while trying to be healthy), and usually not interesting enough to write about. I have become very inspired by the Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond. The voice in her writing is so relate-able. She just cracks me up and I feel like she's my friend telling me about her life. Everyone should check her out!

Alrighty back to what I was saying..... she has inspired me to write about all different aspects of my life. One day I'll have a really professional blog with different categories and professional pictures and giveaways and millions of followers! Sigh. But until then I'm going to work with what I got! So here it goes!

P.s. I've never been one for grammar so if I have errors, which I'm sure I do, let me know cause I'm working on it and not just putting commas where, ever, I, think, they, should, go.

I have loved gardening since I was young. Even after the very traumatizing experience of growing corn. I had the tallest corn stalks (probably only like 6ft tall, I was 10) with huge ears of corn growing. Ok I doubt they were as big as I remember. I was so excited to pick the corn only to find out....

That they were full of ants
And no corn.
I guess its smart to check if your planting things on top of an ant hill.
Yep found that one after but in my defense I was 10. How was I supposed to know ants are out to ruin your life.
Needless to say I was crushed and have yet to plant corn again. Damn ants.

But I have successfully grown a variety of different vegetables since then. Here are some of the things growing right now in my backyard.

Succulents! Succulents! And more succulents! I absolutely love them. They are so easy to grow and come in a ton of varieties. Plus their flowers are really interesting looking. I also love that you can just cut parts of the plant off and stick them in the ground and guess what they grow! I know, it's amazing! Just another reason why plants are some of the coolest things on earth! I'm a plant nerd I know. I guess its a good thing my life goal is to become a farmer.

I currently have four tomato varieties. Sun power, Big Rainbow, Black plum, and Sungold. As always I planted them way to close together. I only have a small raised bed and tend to think I can plant a ton of stuff when the plants are small and there's lots of room around them. The plants of course always grow well past my expectations. Some of my tomato plants are more than 8ft tall and with my 5ft 3 and a half inches I can barely see the top. I had to use a ladder in order to get them up on stakes. The only one that has actually produced a tomato yet is the Sun power (on the right and such a pretty orange). They are the size of a golf ball and so good!

On the left is the Black Plum tomatoes. There are tons of tomatoes but none have changed color yet. With my luck they will all ripen to their deep purple color at once and I'll be stuck with 10 million pounds of tomatoes. I think I will definitely be making some spaghetti sauce!

The last picture is of my Big Rainbow. It was the one variety I was really excited for because it produces these huge, beautiful, multi-colored tomatoes. Just like ones you always see in cooking magazines with fresh mozzarella, a little salt and pepper, and some fresh basil; maybe a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I need to stop I'm making myself hungry.

The Big Rainbow hasn't produced a tomato yet.

Just flowers.

Which fall off.

And break my heart.

But now that I have staked them up properly I'm crossing my fingers and willing them to produce at least one tomato.

I also have cucumbers. These are strictly for my dog because she is incapable of staying out of the garden and away from the cucumbers. She tends to get the cucumbers before they get big enough to pick. I find pieces around the backyard and her looking happy and only a slight bit shameful.

My green beans are finally getting there. I had first started seeds in my little hot box but I guess the seeds were bad because sadly they never grew. So I went and bought some more seeds and decided to throw caution to the wind and just plant them directly in my garden. I don't always do this because I have a really bad rollie polly (non-technical name) problem and they love to munch on baby plants. Must be a delicacy to them or something because they just go to town. I don't want to get rid of them though because they important to the garden. They break down dead leaves making ORGANIC MATTER! (My fellow crop science friends will know the joke).

That's one of the many Pasilla peppers. It has probably doubled in size since I've taken this picture. It is doing surprisingly well. I thought it wasn't going to last at first but now it has a ton of peppers. It's extremely difficult to wait for them to get big enough to make chile rellenos. I also have orange bell peppers growing. I am currently in a war with spider mites over them but I will prevail!

Can you guess what this one is? If you guessed pumpkin...you're wrong! Just kidding. I planted this one on a whim when I found a seed in my gardening apron.

Side note: Gardening aprons are amazing. You can put stuff in the pockets like your clippers or twine. I generally have my cell phone in there too. Plus I don't get dirty and have a place to wipe my hands on instead of my jeans.

Anyways, I've been talking to this pumpkin plant everyday. I might start playing some classical music for it so it feels relaxed and can put all of its energy into making a pumpkin because I really want a pumpkin. I mean how cool would it be to carve a pumpkin you grew for Halloween! One day on my farm I am going to grow lots and lots of pumpkins. One day, hopefully in the near future. So far it has only had male flowers so no pumpkins yet!

So there's just some of the things I have in my garden. I have lots more but I think I'll save those for another time. What are some of the things you guys are growing?

Traditional Potato Salad

2011-03-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't used to like potato salad purely based on the mayo cause well I think mayo is nasty. Yeah I know I'm crazy. I've been told a 100 times before but I still don't like it so I decided to try an alternative. Vegan Mayo. I actually really enjoy this. Don't knock it till you try it! Heres my potato salad!

Ingredients:
1 large Russet Potato
1/2 medium sized bell pepper chopped any color
1/4 cup black olives, sliced or whole
Dressing:
1/2-3/4 cup vegan mayo (I use Vegenaise Mayo)
1-1 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 tbs dill relish
Salt and Pepper

Boil the potato in water with a little salt until it is fork tender. Drain the potato, when it is cooled enough to touch peel the skin off, and chop it into chucks. While the potato is still hot pour enough dressing to coat the potato. You may not need all of the dressing at first but once the potato has cooled it will soak up the dressing and you may need more. Add the bell pepper, olives, mix, and salt and pepper to taste!

Minestrone Soup

2011-03-11T18:44:00.000-08:00

I was going to post this when the weather was yucky and gloomy outside and my whole family was sick but once I got better life and school intervened and I haven't had much time to write until now. Soup is an easy way to use up veggies that are going bad or really to just clean out your fridge. Plus you can control the amount of sodium in it and it obviously doesn't have any preservatives. Minestrone soup is my favorite and I always make my mom make it for me when I don't feel good.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chopped Carrots
1 1/2 chopped Celery
1 cup chopped brown Onion
2 large cloves minced Garlic
3/4 cup chopped Zucchini
1 cup chopped Swiss Chard/Kale
1 large diced Potato
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 cans of beans (like Cannelloni, and Kidney) rinsed
1 14.5 oz Canned diced tomatoes
2tbs tomato paste
Tbs Oregano
Olive Oil
1 box vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
Pasta (optional)

In a large pot saute the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Then add the potatoes and saute for 5 min to slightly soften.

Next, add the tomato paste and oregano and incorporate for 2 or 3 min. After it is well mixed add the stock and the diced tomato and bring it to a boil.

Once it is at a boil turn it down to a low simmer and add the rinsed beans, zucchini, peas, and swiss chard/kale, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until potatoes and beans are cooked through. You can add pasta of your choice the last ten minutes.

Bruschetta

2011-03-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

Bruschetta is one of my all time favorite dinners. It is an Italian appetizer that can have many different toppings. I love this for dinner because it is so easy and it is a great way to use up tomatoes that are going bad or bread going stale. My favorite version is tomato, onions, and basil. All you need to do is chop up all three into a bowl and add a good amount of olive oil to coat everything. Then season with salt and pepper. In the picture above I added some klamata olives because I had some in the fridge. After you let that mixture set for awhile so all the flavors blended. Take your bread and drizzle a little olive oil on the top. Traditionally bruschetta is on little toasts from a baguette but sometimes I just use my sandwich bread, usually sourdough. I don't like it too crispy because I always end up cutting my mouth......Stick the bread in the oven/toaster oven, or if you even too lazy to do that like I usually am pop it in the toaster. Once it's crisp take a clove of garlic and rub in all over the bread. Top the bread with the mixture and enjoy!!! You can get really creative with whatever you have in the fridge and have a super satisfying dinner!

Jambalaya

2011-03-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

For "Fat Tuesday"(aka Mardi Gras) my mother decided to make a vegetarian Jambalaya for dinner in honor of my Cajun heritage. We gained inspiration from ammclendon (thanks!) .I decided to change up the recipe a bit because I'm not really into "fake meat". This recipe is really versatile, I used the beans I had in the panty so you could put whatever you wanted in it. We were going to add some frozen corn to it but forgot.....but it happens so feel free to add any veggies you would like.

Ingredients:
2 Cups Brown rice
Cooked per package directions ( She used a mixture of water and vegetable stock)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 small onion finely chopped
1 bell pepper finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 12oz package Soyrizo
1 bay leaf
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 can Cannellini beans
1 can Black eyed peas
1 can Kidney beans
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, pepper and garlic in olive oil until softened. Add cajun seasoning, thyme, and red pepper flakes cook 1 minute. Add Chorizo and saute for 5 minutes make sure not to burn Soyrizo add more olive oil if needed.

Add Bay leaf, tomatoes ,vegetable broth, Cannellini beans, Black-eyed peas, and kidney beans and rice. Stir mixture to combine cover and let simmer 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Add Salt and pepper to taste.

Klamata Olive and Sun-dried tomato hummus, Cilantro Lime Hummus

2011-02-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

Hummus is one of my favorite foods. Chickpeas are really good for you, rich in calcium and fiber, and will take on any flavor you add to it. I like to eat hummus with crackers or pita chips/bread, fresh cut veggies, or as a "sauce" on a pizza. These are two that I came up with but you can be very creative and put whatever you feel like . Traditional hummus is just chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. These are some jazzed up versions.

Klamata Olive and Sun-dried Tomato

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
1/4 cup pitted Klamata Olives in liquid or oil
1/4 cup Sun-dried Tomatoes in oil
olive oil
pepper

First wash the chickpeas well in a strainer until the liquid they are in is gone. In a food processor blend the can of chickpeas with a steady stream of olive oil until the mixture is smooth and has a creamy consistency. Roughly chop up the olives and tomatoes and stir them in the chickpeas. Salt and pepper is optional. I would wait an hour or two before adding salt because the olives are quite salty and by waiting for the flavor to mix you most likely will not need it.

Cilantro Lime

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas

1 handful cilantro

1-2 tsp lime zest

1-2 limes juiced

olive oil

Salt and Pepper

In a food processor lightly blend the cilantro and lime zest Add the well rinsed chickpeas, lime juice and a pinch or two of salt and pepper. I would start out with half a lime first depending on how much juice and flavor 1 lime produces. Blend all that together while pouring a steady stream of olive oil until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add more salt, pepper, or lime juice as needed.

Dahl (lentils)

2011-02-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

When I go out for Indian food I always order Dahl. Dahl, which is made from lentils, it's like refried beans to Indians. It is so filling and so good for you! This recipe is an accumulation of ideas I got offline and my own preferences. Different lentils will have a different texture when cooked. Some will fall apart while others like the one above will stay more intact. You can also play around with the spices you use making this nothing like an Indian dish.

Ingredients

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped brown onion

2 cups lentils

1 tbs yellow curry

1 tbs ground cumin

Salt and pepper

vegetable stock optional

1 jalapeno or red pepper flakes

1 crushed garlic clove

In a large sauce pan sauté the vegetables, garlic, and spices in olive oil until the vegetables are soft. Next add the in the lentils and add enough water or vegetable stock to cover the lentils. I used a mixture of both because stock can be very salty however, if you only use water you may need to add more spices or salt. Also add the red pepper flakes or jalapeno to how hot you would like it. I normally cut a slit on each side of the jalapeno and through it in whole. When the lentils are done you can fish it out. If you want it hotter you can chop the jalapeno and throw it right it. Bring the lentils to a boil and cover and let simmer until the lentils are soft. If you forget about it, like I usually do, and all of your liquid evaporates just add more water or stock. You may have to do this a few times. When they are almost done add the salt a pepper. I have found that if I add salt before all the juices have come together I eat up having to add a lot of unnecessary salt. Serve hot in a bowl with naan bread (trader joes has some in the freezer section) or pita bread, I like to cook it on the stove top first, and basmati rice.

Samosas

2011-02-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

I love Indian food. This recipe I have been making for a really long time. I got it off the internet somewhere I don't remember so if it is yours thank you! and let me know so I can give you the credit you deserve!

Vegetable Samosa FIlling

1 Potato finely diced (5 to 10 mill cubes)
1 carrot finely diced - as above
2 cloves of crushed garlic.
1 Onion finely chopped
1 Cup of frozen peas
1 tblspn vegetable oil
2 tspn curry powder or your own spices according to taste
Salt, Pepper to taste.
100ml of vegetable stock.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic, mix in the spices and fry until soft.

Add the vegetables, seasoning and stir well until coated.

Add the stock, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until cooked.

Making the Samosa Pastry

You don't have to make your own pastry. You can simply buy some ready-made pastry from the shop. For samosas you want to fry, use Filo Pastry and for samosas you want to cook in the oven use Puff Pastry.

This recipe will make enough pastry for 24 samosas and you will need:

225gm.( 1cup) plain flour
2 tspn. salt
2tblspb. vegetable oil
80 ml (around 3/4 cup) warm water.

Mix flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well into the centre and add the oil and enough water to make a firm dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth and roll into a ball. Cover in plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Divide the pastry into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and roll out into a circle of 15 cm. Divide this circle into two equal pieces with a knife.

Brush each edge with a little water and form a cone shape around your fingers, sealing the dampened edge.

Fill the cases with a tblpns of your chosen mixture and press the two dampened edges together to seal the top of the cone. (You don't have to make the scone shape.... as long as all the filling is covered it will cook just fine)

Deep fry the samosas in hot oil until crisp and brown take out and drain on a paper towel. Restaurants serve these with a mint chutney or a sweet sauce. I prefer the chutney but have never attempted it. I just squeeze lemon juice on each bite.

Chili Beans

2011-02-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

This recipe is very special to me. I grew up eating my great grandma's chili, it was at every family party and has become a definite comfort food. This recipe actually turned out to be an easy translation to vegetarian. I personally like to heat a tortilla on the stove and make a burrito with cold beans, but they are excellent hot in burritos or in a big bowl at a bbq. I always bring these to parties, mainly to ensure I have something eat, and they are always a hit. People don't even know there isn't meat in them.

Ingredients
2 cup "meat" crumbles
1/2 soyrizo package ( I really like Trader Joe's brand)
2 15oz cans Ralphs brand chili beans in sauce ( Normally I would say use whatever beans you want but for this it has to be Ralphs brand cili beans otherwise it will not taste the same)
1 tsp garlic salt
olive oil

Cook the meat crumbles and garlic salt in 2 tbs olive oil. Once it has started to brown, mix in the soyrizo, lower the heat and cook until the mixture is nicely browned. Next transfer the mixture to a large sauce pan or pot and add the 2 cans of beans. Mix throughly and cook until heated through and bubbling.

Pasta Della California

2011-02-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

This recipe comes from one of my favorite cook books. I'm told I'm weird because I like to read the introductions to cook books but this is one of the most informative cookbooks I have ever seen. Not only does it tell you about kitchen supplies, terminology, and things to stock your pantry with, but also how to properly cook vegetables, beans and grains. I call this book the Vegan Bible and you don't have to be vegan to find really delicious recipes. I decided to make this pasta because I had 2 avocados that were ripe and needed to be used up. Now I wasn't sure what warm avocado tasted like but you really couldn't even tell it was warm and tasted really good.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Linguine ( I used spaghetti because thats what I had at home. I don't like buying more when I already have something similar at home)
3 cups sliced broccoli (tops cut into small florets stalks thinly sliced)
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp grated lime zest
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine (I went for something dry and used Trader Joes Green Fin wine....it really cheap)
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tbs lime juice, around 1 lime
1/2 tsp salt
several pinches of finely ground black pepper
4 cups loosely packed arugula leaves
2 avocados sliced into 1 inch chunks
klamata olives (my idea)

Before you start cooking, do what I didn't do...... mise en place! Now you might be wondering what that means and it took me a while sounding it out to get even close so google could correct me but I found a definition.

Mise en place (pronounced [miz ɑ̃ plas], literally "putting in place") is a French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America as "everything in place", as in set up. It is used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients (e.g., cuts of meat, relishes, sauces, par-cooked items, spices, freshly chopped vegetables, and other components) that a cook will require for the menu items that he or she expects to prepare during his/her shift.

This is something that I have been trying to work on but I have learned that in this recipe it is very important! Plus make sure you know exactly what your doing otherwise you can get behind that way too. The recipe isn't hard or a lot of work as long as you miss en place! Ok lets get started!

Bring a large pot of water to boil and prep all of your ingredients while the water boils. ( I had a hard time getting everything ready so if you are slow I would recommend prepping everything before you put the water on). Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook according to the package, about 10 min. (My pasta cooked way faster. Just make sure not to over cook you pasta). In the last min of cooking the pasta you are going to be adding the broccoli.

Meanwhile, preheat a large nonstick skillet over a medium heat. Add the olive oil, garlic, lime zest, and red pepper flakes, and gently heat stirring often for about 2 min. Be careful not to burn the garlic!

Then pour in the wine (I really don't like wine in cooking but I tried it anyways and I really couldn't taste it when the pasta was done). Raise the heat to bring to a boil, to reduce the wine, around 2 min. Once reduced add the vegetable broth, lime juice, salt and pepper and bring to a boil again. Once the sauce is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and add the arugula.

The recipe now says that the pasta should be about done and its time to add the broccoli but if it is done long before your sauce is done drain the pasta and an a little olive oil to it so the pasta doesn't stick together.

When the arugula is wilted, add the broccoli and pasta to the pan and use a pasta spoon (idk what that is I just used a spatula) making sure all of the pasta gets coated. Cook for about 3 more min.This is when I added the olives too.

Add the avocado and turn off the heat. Gently toss the pasta for another min to incorporate the avocado without smushing it. ( I mix long because I wanted the avocado to coat to pasta and make a slightly creamy sauce).

This is the final product!

2 meals for 1! Spring Rolls and Soup

2011-02-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

MEAL 1

I have been wanting to make my own spring rolls for a while now. I decided to just make up my own recipe. I think these really turned out delicious and very healthy. Plus I'll show you the soup I made from the left overs.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup carrots julienne
1/4 cup red bell pepper julienne
1/4 cup zucchini sliced
2 or 3 tablespoons finely diced red onion or sliced green onion
1/2 cup chopped asparagus
1 cup bean sprouts
half a head of a small cabbage ( around a cup and a half)
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tbl spoon Apple Cider Vinegar or White Wine Vinegar
Wel-Pac Chow Mein Stir-Fri noodles ( I have found these to have the most flavor)
1 inch grated ginger (I have found that it grates best when it is frozen. Just take a spoon and scrape off the tough skin only on the part you are going to use.)
sesame seeds
red pepper flakes-as much as you would like
1 tbl spoon Sesame oil or Safflour oil or Vegetable oil( I just would not recommend olive oil because you want a neutral flavor)
Banh Trang spring roll wrappers ( I found these at whole foods but I'm sure any spring roll wrappers will do)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Begin by boiling a largeish pot of water to soften the rice papers later. Once it has boiled set aside around 2 cups of water into a large bowl to cool while you chop the veggies. In the rest of the water boil about a quarter of the package of noodles until al dente.

In another bowl add all of the chopped veggies, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, as much sesame seeds as you like, cilantro, and ginger. When the noodles are done add them to the mix, mix well and allow the flavors to blend together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Before you start making the rolls taste the mixture to see if it has enough flavor.

Next you will need to soften the rice papers. To this your water will need to be hot, not so hot you burn yourself but luke warm water won't do. Take the rice paper by the edge and gently spin it in the water. Make sure to get the center wet too. The paper is very fragile and will rip (at least mine did...). Unless it is a major rip the small rips can be smushed back together when the paper dries a little because it becomes slightly sticky. When the whole paper is soft lay it out on a cutting board.

Lay a portion of the mixture, depending on the size you would like your rolls, in a line down the center of it. Roll like a burrito. My rolls turned out quite large because I can't make anything in little portions.... See below

Rub each roll with a little oil and top with sesame seed. Cook in a 350 degree oven until crispy. My rolls slightly stuck so I would recommend using pam or oiling the cookie sheet. Once the top is crispy flip it over to crisp to bottom. The veggies will be nicely steamed on the inside.

When making this recipe take liberty and experiment adding and subtracting any ingredients. Most people would probably add mushrooms to this but I absolutely hate them!!! These can also be deep fried but there cannot be any holes in the roll otherwise they will just soak up with oil. Mine were more of fork and knife spring rolls so if you want them to be finger foods I would limit the amount of filling.

MEAL 2

For the second meal you can make a soup out of the left over spring roll filling! In a wok or sauce pan saute onions, garlic, and celery until soft along with salt and pepper. Add a cup of water, or enough to cover the amount of left overs you have, and scrape down the bottom of the pan to get all of the flavor off.

Add in the left over mix and let simmer. Taste the broth and you made need to add a little more soy sauce or vinegar and anything else you wish to add.

Let the soup simmer until the veggies are soft!

Garlic Party Peanuts

2011-01-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

   The first time I went to Canada I had these peanuts a friend's family's house. When they were set down in a bowl in front of me they were still warm and the smell of garlic spread through the room. These are the most addictive peanuts in the world. I have eaten so much I have made myself sick but I never get sick of them.

Ingredients:
3 cups Raw Spanish Peanuts
1 medium size bulb of garlic thinly sliced
   olive oil

Coat the bottom of a non-stick pan with olive oil.

On a medium high heat cook the peanuts until slightly brown.

Add the sliced garlic (mmm doesn't that look good!).....

and cook until the peanuts are dark brown and the garlic is crisp and salt while they are hot. Wait until the peanuts are completely cool to eat. I normally can't wait and end up burning my mouth!

Homemade Granola with Peanut Butter

2011-01-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

Breakfast is the hardest thing for me. I'm usually really lazy in the morning and don't like taking the time to make something and toast and toaster hash browns get old nor are they very healthy.I have been looking for something new to eat to and decided to make my own granola recipe. So this is the first run and you could really put anything in it which I love because I can use whats in season or on sale at the store.

In a large bowl combine:
1/3 cup Brown Rice Syrup
1/4 cup good Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg
2 teaspoon Maple Syrup
1 tablespoon Safflower oil or Vegetable oil

Then mix in:
2 cups Rolled Oats
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts
1/4 cup hulled Sunflower Seeds
1/4 cup unsalted roasted Peanuts
1/4 cup raw Cashews chopped ( I used Cashew pieces because they were half the price of the regular ones)
1/2 cup dried Apricots chopped
1/2 cup dried Cranberries

Spread the mixture out onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 for around 45 min until golden brown and dry to the touch. Half way through turn the granola with a spatula. When done let cool and break up any large pieces.
I don't think it matters if the nuts are raw or roasted, I purchased based on price but if you buy salted nuts I would omit or cut down the added salt. Also if you use crunchy peanut butter I would omit the extra peanuts.